Amey plc

Amey plc, previously known as Amey Ltd and Amey Roadstone Construction, is a United Kingdom based infrastructure support service provider. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange, but since 2003, it has been a subsidiary of Spanish company Ferrovial. The head office for the company is in the Sherard Building in Oxford.[2]

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Amey was founded in the 1921 by William Charles Amey, as an Oxfordshire based quarry operator. The company grew during World War II with its involvement in the construction of Royal Air Force bases. In 1959, the company was responsible for the supply of gravel for the construction of the M1 motorway, between London and Birmingham. In the same year, it became a public company.[3]

Between 1972 and 1989, the company was owned by Consolidated Gold Fields, and used the names Amey Roadstone and ARC. In 1974, they bought Stephen Toulson & Sons. In 1989, Hanson purchased the company for a short period before it went into private ownership until 1995, when it was refloated on the London Stock Exchange. In April 2003, it was acquired by Ferrovial, but continues to trade under the Amey name.[3][7]

From 2003 to May 2010, the company jointly owned (with Bechtel) Tube Lines, the consortium responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civil work and stations, on three London Underground lines.[7] Following a funding shortfall at the business, it was bought from Amey and Bechtel by Transport for London.[8]

In February 2006, Amey acquired the highway and railway design consultancy, Owen Williams, allowing it to substantially grow its business and develop its own consultancy division. Amey acquired the rail consultancy arm of WYG Engineering Ltd in July 2010, Transportation Planning (International) Ltd (TPi) in February 2011 and Aquatech Engineering in November 2014.

In April 2013, Amey completed the acquisition of utilities, waste and public service providers, Enterprise plc.[9] In January 2016, Amey acquired Travel Point Trading Ltd (TPT), a strategic asset management consultancy with a strong presence in the rail sector in the United Kingdom.[10]

In February 2018, Amey purchased Carillion's rail contracts with Network Rail in the East Midlands, London and the North West, following Carillion's liquidation in January. The purchase saved about 700 jobs.[11][12] In August 2018 Amey completed the acquisition of Ministry of Defence (MoD) housing maintenance contracts previously run in joint venture with Carillion.[13]

In December 2018, press reports said Ferrovial had put Amey up for sale.[14] Ferrovial had posted a net loss of €72m for the first half of 2018 after allocating €237m for losses on Amey's highway maintenance contract with Birmingham City Council.[14][15] Amey also lost £48m on the M8 motorway upgrade in Scotland.[14]

In February 2019, Amey was reported close to a deal enabling it to exit its Birmingham highway maintenance contract, liabilities from which were preventing the sale of the company by Ferrovial,[1] who slashed the value of Amey by £660m, saying the "fair value" of Amey in the United Kingdom was £88m.[16]

Amey works for the public and regulated sectors in the United Kingdom, selling services including highways and rail management and maintenance, facilities management, waste collection and treatment provision of utilities services as well as consultancy services. Most of Amey's business is based in the United Kingdom; however it also operates in America, Australia and Qatar. Amey is involved in consultancy in the civil engineering industry, with a wide range of design and asset management services offered.

This includes structural design, civil infrastructure, transport systems and asset management services.[19] The company retains its Oxfordshire links, with its head office located on the Oxford Science Park in the city of Oxford.

In August 2012, Amey signed a twenty five year private finance initiative 'Streets Ahead' contract with Sheffield City Council to maintain the city's roads, pavements, street lights and highway trees.[19] The replacement of up to 17,500[24] of the city's 36,000 highway trees is the subject of a campaign by local residents who argue that the majority of the trees listed for felling are healthy and could be retained using sensitive engineering solutions.[25]

According to the council, the 'Streets Ahead' tree strategy[26] means only trees which have been assessed as dead, dying, diseased, dangerous, damaging footpaths, private property or roads, or discriminatory by obstructing pavements are replaced.[27] The ultimate decision is taken by the council.[28] Over the course of the contract the overall number of highways trees will increase.[29]

On 26 March 2018, the city council announced an immediate pause of the tree felling scheme, following a wave of criticism and protests.[30]